How does a domain-spanning innovation achieve high impact and fulfill its transformative potential? To address this, recent research has wisely moved beyond studying the level of impact to examining the disruptive nature of impact: the degree to which an innovation departs from foundational work and undermines the status quo. This research reveals that the drivers of the two dimensions of impact are distinct, at least on the producer side. But fully addressing this question requires us to consider the audience side as well. We contend that how domain-spanning affects the level and disruptiveness of impact is contingent upon one feature of audiences: the degree to which they are partitioned into disconnected subsets. To test this, we focus on the realm of science and its prototypical form of domain-spanning: interdisciplinary research. Using data on thousands of scientists and over half a million scientific papers from the Web of Science, we find that spanning disciplines enhances both dimensions of impact. Importantly, when interdisciplinary research reaches a partitioned audience, the level of the research impact is stifled, but the disruptiveness is enhanced. We discuss how and why a more partitioned audience allows the ground-breaking potential of domain-spanning innovation to be realized.
Ansprechpartnerin: Marina Chugunova
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